Niantic CEO Talks Pokemon Go Sponsorship And The Impact Of The Game On Local Businesses

Its been over a month since the launch of Pokemon GO. The game was an instant success, however, analysts and industry insiders are speculating that for how long will the game remain relevant.

Niantic Labs already makes a lot of revenue from micro-transactions, and now John Hanke has spoken about Pokemon Go Sponsorship and the economics behind the app.

Speaking with Gamesbeat, Niantic CEO John Hanke revealed a bit about the tension over a good game design and effective monetization using the in-app purchase model.

It’s tough to be disciplined about it and understand where you want to draw the line between monetisation and fun gameplay.

He further said that he grew up with video games and love making them. He also discussed the pressure of Pokemon Go sponsorship model that would be economically strong and viable.

I grew up with computer games and video games. I love making them and playing them. We wanted to always preserve the integrity of game design if possible. We felt like it would be great to be able to complement IAP with a sponsorship model that was economically strong, economically viable, to take a bit of the pressure off IAP so that we could protect ourselves from ourselves. We wouldn’t have to cave to that pressure to dial it up a bit more.

He further discussed the impact of Pokemon Go on the local business. He said that the team did study during Ingress days, and the players memorize the location of the local businesses and visit them often.

We did early studies on that back in the Ingress days. Gamers will memorise the locations of these local businesses, they’ll visit them more frequently, and they’ll make purchases when they’re there. Then you see that ad hoc validation from all the small businesses that have adapted that strategy themselves, just buying lures through in-app purchases and applying them to Pokéstops nearby. Some of them have published ROI metrics around that. There are how-to guides for businesses about how to use Pokémon. That’s really cool.

What do you think of Pokemon Go sponsorship and the impact of the game on local business? Let us know in the comments.